The Allahabad High Court has held that a taxpayer’s statutory right to appeal cannot be obstructed merely because the disputed GST amount has already been deposited under protest, resulting in the GST portal treating the demand as “Nil”.

The bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi permitted the taxpayer to file its appeal within two weeks after the Goods and Services Tax Network informed the Court that the facility to appeal against “Nil” demand orders had been enabled on the GST portal.

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The bench directed that its order be communicated to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs for considering the issuance of an administrative instruction or circular to facilitate appeals by all taxpayers facing a similar difficulty.

The petitioner approached the High Court seeking a direction to the authorities, particularly GSTN, to enable the filing of a statutory appeal under Section 107 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

The proposed appeal was against an adjudication order dated December 31, 2025, as subsequently modified by a rectification order dated March 23, 2026.

According to the petitioner, it had deposited the disputed amount under protest. However, the payment resulted in a technical difficulty: the GST portal did not permit an appeal to be filed because the demand reflected against the taxpayer had become “Nil”.

The petitioner sought permission to file the appeal electronically or through any other appropriate mode and requested that the matter be entertained and decided on its merits.

During an earlier hearing on August 6, 2026, a coordinate Bench observed that access to justice appeared to have been obstructed by technical limitations on the GST portal.

The Court noted that the taxpayer could not file an appeal precisely because the entire amount of disputed tax may already have been deposited. In its prima facie view, a statutory right of appeal could not be obstructed in a manner that delayed or denied access to justice.

The petitioner had relied on the Allahabad High Court’s decision in M/s Yash Kothari Public Charitable Trust v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others, reported as 2023:AHC:10318.

The Court consequently granted time to the State authorities and GSTN to obtain instructions regarding permanent measures that could allow such appeals to be filed online. It further indicated that, if an online solution was unavailable, arrangements could be made for filing appeals through an offline process.

At the same time, the Court clarified that allowing the appeal documents to be uploaded would not prevent the appellate authority from independently examining any issue concerning the appeal’s maintainability.

At the subsequent hearing, counsel for GSTN placed written instructions dated September 2, 2026, before the Court.

GSTN stated that the facility for filing an appeal against a “Nil” order had been enabled on the GST portal. The petitioner could, therefore, file the disputed appeal electronically in Form GST APL-01.

Recording the development, the High Court noted that GSTN had enabled taxpayers generally to file appeals against demand orders disclosing a Nil demand. The facility was therefore not confined only to the petitioner before the Court.

The High Court allowed Sky Texpros Private Limited to file its appeal within two weeks from the date of the order.

It expressly directed that, if the appeal was filed within the permitted period, it must be treated as having been regularly filed without any objection being raised on that account.

The direction protects the petitioner from a possible limitation objection arising from the time consumed while the GST portal did not permit the filing of the appeal.

The Court did not decide the underlying tax dispute on its merits. The substantive issues arising from the adjudication and rectification orders will be examined by the competent appellate authority after the appeal is filed.

Recognising that other taxpayers may face the same problem, the High Court directed that a copy of its order be sent to the CBIC.

The Court stated that CBIC may issue an appropriate administrative instruction or circular to facilitate the filing of appeals by all assessees facing the predicament of being unable to appeal because the demand shown on the portal is Nil.

The Registrar (Compliance) was directed to communicate the order to CBIC.

Before disposing of the writ petition, the Bench appreciated the efforts made by GSTN and the prompt resolution offered by it.

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